The Glasgow PodcART

Immediacy is the word that springs to mind most when I think about We Were Promised Jetpacks. There is a sense of urgency in their propulsive song writing and an energy that is as corrosively thrilling as any band currently thrashing their wares on the scene. It’s fair to say I love We Were Promised Jetpacks. I love the adrenaline rush of the rhythms’, the battering ram noise and the roar of Adam Thompson’s vocals. What I will never forget though is the first time I saw them play. Early in 2008 at Nice n Sleazy I witnessed an acoustic performance I later described to a musician friend as ‘like watching The Ramones playing Arcade Fire songs’. I heard the songs, the melodies and the full blooded almost demanding vocal and I was hooked. If there were any boxes left to be ticked they belonged to categories I had long since recognized as unimportant.

Skip forward to October 08 and I am watching the band supporting Frightened Rabbit in The Arches in Glasgow. The venue is sold out and everyone is anticipating a night of cerebral indie music that is amongst the finest available in the UK at present. What people may not have been expecting is the massive wall of noise that crashes towards them like a downed aeroplane. The noise produced by We Were Promised Jetpacks is simply huge! The choruses climb all around the curved roof and batter senses into submission. I explained to the band when I interviewed them recently that one of my friends spent the first 3 songs bowed down with her head in her hands covering her ears before then having to leave. They were suitably impressed. Of course it’s a nonsense just to be loud, but when you have a rocket propelled dynamism married with irresistible choruses then you have something special and believe me, We Were Promised Jetpacks are very special.

The debut album ‘These Four Walls’ is released through Fat Cat on the 15th of June and I have been lucky enough to get a sneak preview.  There is a great chance We Were Promised Jetpacks will head into the stratosphere when the record hits the shelves. The album was recorded in a converted barn miles away from civilisation where the band were left, ‘on our own all day and all night, we could just play anytime we wanted’.  The result of this enforced captivity is an album that is full of focus, drive, energy and emotion. It’s hard not to be struck by the simplicity of the production upon first listen  and I for one am glad that These Four Walls sounds exactly the way it should. It comes out of the speakers like a fully formed star, burning with light and lashing out at the listener with the precision of a middleweight boxer. The live experience has been trapped and recorded but the beast has not been tamed!!  If you haven’t caught We Were Promised Jetpacks live then I promise you an experience of breathtaking beauty and staggering blunt force trauma. Cleverer than a thousand Pigeon Detectives, bloodier than a million Enemy’s if you like your pop ‘punky’ and you want your indie ‘intelligent’ then this is the band and the album for you.

These Four Walls Review

Track 1: It’s Thunder and It’s Lightening

A live favourite, this song builds to a crescendo of ferocious guitars and doom laden drums. From the delicate beginnings of glockenspiel dripping behind the pleading vocal line, ‘Your body was black and blue’ repeats until Adam is almost screaming over Lackie’s drums. This is simply huge.

Track 2: Ships With Holes Will Sink

Another enigmatic title that is almost a Haiku, the lyrics are spat out driving the melody and filling the song with horror until suddenly the chorus arrives full of hope built on Michael Palmers spiralling guitars. Not just a song, a fully fledged anthem.

Track 3: Roll Up Your Sleeves

This is more of a self help instruction than a song.  Incessant drumming, soaring chorus, there is no sign of the pace slipping here but when the song breaks down half way through piano’s and sparkling guitars fill the space with Adam repeating the mantra ‘stay calm, stay calm’. A beautiful moment in a song with a twist in the tail that’s as welcome as it is unexpected.

Track 4: Conductor

Follows from where Roll Up Your Sleeves left in reflective mood but this is the aural equivalent of an optical illusion. Massive reverb laden guitars batter away in the background as the drums pound in the foreground. Another anthem, at this point you become aware you are listening to something very special indeed.

Track 5: A Half Built House

Here the band gives us a break and this is an ideal way to close the first half of the album. Launch countdown samples and the band playing with effects, A Half Built House illustrates this band are about more than just 3 minute pop songs.

Track 6: This Is My House, This Is My Home

‘Something’s happened, in the attic, we both know I’m not going up there’. The simple mistake that has fuelled every decent horror movie ever made, WWPJ refuse to follow the flock. Another glimpse of the foreboding that permeates through Adam’s lyrics, another song that soars’ to a crescendo.

Track 7: Quiet Little Voices

The song that opens this week’s podcast sees bassist Sean Smith let loose on this live favourite. Huge drums? Check. Insanely catchy, shouty chorus? Check? The best Scottish punk/pop song since Roseability? Possibly.

Track 8: Moving Clocks Run Slow

Another longtime live favourite. Another Haiku. Another belting chorus. This really is angular, post pop at its best. Guitars vying for supremacy on top of disco beats, dare yourself to not tap your feet or bob your head.

Track 9: Short Bursts

The fastest track on the album this really is jet propelled. This song actually threatened my speakers, and I have large speakers!! Giant bass, bigger drums and Adam hollering like a man possessed. This band really doesn’t do small choruses and why the hell would they want to?

Track 10: Keeping Warm

The Album stand out. Simply awesome!! The song has an intro that label mates The Twilight Sad would be proud of.

Track 11: An Almighty Thud

The album closers title is an ironic tilt at what has gone on before. The acoustic guitar soothes the brain and massages the emotion to allow you to take stock of what has gone on before.

Sean McCann

We Were Promised Jetpacks are playing Hinterland on the 1st May at ABC2

Thanks to We Were Promised Jetpacks, Sharon and Jamie at Hail Eris management and Tom at Fat Cat

Please Note: All photographs taken by Megan Leggo